|Publication number||US7562309 B2|
|Application number||US 10/825,299|
|Publication date||Jul 14, 2009|
|Priority date||Aug 27, 1997|
|Also published as||US6313851, US6344865, US6469721, US6724405, US6898765, US20020027571, US20020080154, US20020085042, US20040189715|
|Publication number||10825299, 825299, US 7562309 B2, US 7562309B2, US-B2-7562309, US7562309 B2, US7562309B2|
|Inventors||Joseph H. Matthews, III, David W. Plummer, David A. Barnes|
|Original Assignee||Microsoft Corporation|
|Export Citation||BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan|
|Patent Citations (35), Non-Patent Citations (1), Referenced by (8), Classifications (29), Legal Events (2)|
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet|
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/954,167, filed Sep. 18, 2001, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/917,857, filed Aug. 27, 1997, incorporated herein.
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved user interface for a computer operating system which provides different operating modes and enhanced features. The present invention is particularly useful in conjunction with an entertainment setting, such as when a computer is used from a distance and/or in conjunction with a television broadcast, movie, or a sporting event.
2. Related Art
The use of personal computers in connection with televisions and other mass media has recently become a reality. Some personal computers can now be equipped with plug-in television boards which permit viewing of a television broadcast in a window on the computer monitor. Additionally, so-called “large screen” televisions providing combined television and PC viewing capabilities have also been introduced. One such product, announced in 1996 by the Gateway Corporation, provides a personal computer system with a large viewing screen, and a wireless keyboard, remote control, and mouse.
The combination of personal computer functions with television and other medial/entertainment functions creates several problems when a single viewing display is used for both functions. For example, traditional remote controls associated with televisions do not include keys which are useful for computer applications. Providing a separate remote control for the television and one for computer functions, however, unfortunately contributes to the proliferation of remote controls in a house.
The aforementioned Gateway product provides some limited support for controlling computer functions from an integrated remote control. However, it fails to solve many problems associated with providing computer functions in a large-screen setting. Moreover, displaying conventional computer-related: functions on a television screen during a television broadcast clutters up the screen and detracts from the entertainment value of the programming. Thus, merely transferring computer related user interface features from a computer display to the larger screen format are disadvantageous.
As one example, computers which use a windows-based opting system such as Windows95 provide a “taskbar” display component at the bottom part of the screen which is normally fixed on the screen. This taskbar often includes a “START” button at the lower left hand comer which, when activated by the user via a mouse or keyboard, displays a list of options for starting or “launching” applications. Displaying such a taskbar while watching a television program detracts from the program and takes up valuable display space. Moreover, when a user is sitting on a couch, requiring the user to use a mouse or keyboard to activate the start button is inconvenient. Once the user launches an application program, it is a further inconvenience to require that the viewer use a keyboard or mouse to activate various pull-down menus and the like for the application program. Consequently, the conventional display model for launching and interacting with programs in a windowed environment cannot be readily adapted to a remote control television environment.
Another computer feature normally provided in a windowed display environment such as Windows95 is a display menu with multiple choices which can be selected by mouse or keyboard. For example, pressing the “START” button in Windows95 causes a display to be generated with options such as Programs, Settings, Find, Help, Shut Down, etc. The underlined characters in the previous list represents “accelerators” which permit the user to quickly select a desired item by pressing a single keyboard key (e.g., “p”, “s”, or “u”) rather than scrolling through the list with a mouse or arrow key. Unfortunately, if a viewer uses a remote control device which lacks alphabetic characters, these shortcut selection techniques cannot be used. Moreover, the choices are not mutually exclusive (e.g., note that the letter “S” does not uniquely distinguish between “settings” and “shut down”; thus, the alternative “u” designator must be used to select “shut down”). Although one solution is to force the user to scroll up or down using arrow keys to select a choice, this is not always convenient for a remote user. Consequently, a need exists to improve the way in which a user navigates through a menu list when using a remote control device to control computer functions. Moreover, providing a conventional cascading type menu display in an entertainment environment uses up valuable display space, causing for example a television program to be obscured with menu options.
Some keyboards include an “Application” dedicated key which may be configured by software. Pressing such a button, for example, may cause a menu to be shown with options such as cut, paste copy, etc. However, the button operates the same way regardless of the display mode in which computer is operating.
Another problem which can occur when computer functions are implemented on a large screen such as a large-screen television display is that menu selection choices are not adequately distinguishable from the background. For example, if a television program is displayed on the screen and the user activates a menu to select a choice, the conventional menu choice highlighting techniques may not permit the selected choice to be clearly distinguished against the moving background. Consequently, a need exists to enhance highlighted menu choices in such an environment.
Another problem which occurs when a computer function is implemented on a large-screen display is that screen display resolutions which are suitable for a smaller screen display may not be suitable for a larger screen. Merely allowing the user to change the resolution size on the larger screen, as is conventional, does not adequately permit the viewer to control how large the resulting window elements are. For example, switching the screen resolution to 800 by 600 pixels for a large screen TV will result in smaller icons and menu items, thus detracting from the advantages of using a larger screen. Consequently, a need exists to permit the user to more flexibly control the size of screen components in relation to different variables.
Yet another problem concerns how application programs behave in a windowed operating system such as Windows95. The conventional application programming model assumes that other application programs can be simultaneously executing, but does not take into account the fact that a television program or movie may be in progress on the computer display, and does not take into account the fact that in such a “theater mode” environment the user may have access only to a simple remote control device rather than a conventional keyboard or mouse. Consequently, a need exists to provide an enhanced mode in which application programs behave differently when a theater mode has been activated, in order to simplify the operation of the applications when a remote control is used.
Finally, conventional techniques for indicating to a user the contents of a folder (e.g., text files, executable programs, sound files, movies, etc.) often lack sufficient detail to permit the viewer to recognize the nature of the contents of any particular item. For example, the user may merely be provided with an indication that a folder contains 3 text files, a word processor application, and a movie having a particular name. The user must actually start the movie to see whether the movie is a desirable one, and the user must either open the text files or launch a viewer application to display partial contents of the text file. In short, there is no easy way for the user to quickly determine whether any particular folder item is of interest.
The present invention generally relates to an operating environment for controlling a computer using lied input devices, such as a remote control device. Through providing an enhanced operating environment directed to limited input control as well as a system and method for transitioning to and from the enhanced remote operating system, the problems of the prior art are overcome.
The present invention provides a graphical user interface usable to control a computer system using, for example, a remote control device which includes buttons enabling specific functions to aid in the operation of the computer. In order to compensate for the large distance between a user and a large-display, the present invention provides simplified features which permit the user to fully control computer functions on a large screen.
To facilitate such control, an enhanced remote control having two additional buttons, a start button and a menu button, is employed. The start button may be application independent and allows a user to quickly pick between available applications or tasks. The menu button is contemplated to be application dependent in that the options available through its operation may be tailored to the currently running application. For example, if running a spread sheet financial program, pressing the menu button may provide spread sheet specific menu options including applications and tasks like copy cell, copy formula, etc. If running a CD player program, pressing the menu button may provide CD specific menu options including play, pause, stop, reverse, fast forward, etc.
To facilitate the easy selection of a popular application or task the present invention includes numerical accelerators which are displayed on a user's display corresponding to available menu items. To select a specific application or task a user presses the appropriate numerical button on the user's remote control.
To facilitate the user's navigation through multiple levels of menus, the present invention includes the use of enhanced scrolling techniques to allow users to quickly select applications from listed choices without navigating through multiple levels of nested or cascading menus.
The present invention also includes high ting selections of a selection menu so as to enable a user to determine easily from a distance the current position of a selection menu. For example, one way of highlighting the current selection is through the use of a focus frame, an enlarged frame encircling the current selection. The invention also uses alternative colors to represent the current selection, either in combination with the focus frame or without the focus frame.
To assist a user in determining information about a listed application, the present invention includes previewing the listed applications through a preview frame. The preview frame displays information relating to the contents of a folder. To enable faster access of the preview frame as well as prevent unnecessary loading of system memory with an application before the application is actually requested by the user, the invention determines the identity of a current selection and retrieves the contents of a data structure which includes the preview information of the current selection item. Instead of the actual selection being loaded, a short preview of the application, or other material (a commercial for another application or product) may be displayed. Notably, the information as displayed by the preview function described herein is not required to originate with the original application. The preview information may include textual information, graphics, videos, sound clips and the like. The invention also supports interactive previews. For example, while displaying a preview of a game, a user may be allowed to at least minimally interact with the preview to create the perception of actually playing the game embodied in the current selected application.
Further, the present invention includes the addition of a second graphical user interface mode directed to current PC operating functionality (requiring a more sophisticated input device such as a mouse and/or a full keyboard, for normal operation). The operating system of the present invention supports an ability to switch between the first and second graphical user interface modes based on the input device used to control the operating system. For example, when a user presses a key on a keyboard, the system may switch to a normal PC mode of operation. Likewise, when a user presses a key on a remote control, the system may switch back to a theater mode of operation.
As a user switches modes of operation, the various applications are alerted to the change of mode of operation so that, when actually executed, the various applications present a GUI tailored for control via a limited input device from a distance. For example, the applications are modified to be viewed and controlled from a distance using enlarged font types, minimized nesting of options, and context sensitive function keys which change their operation based on the running application.
Other features and advantages will become evident through the following detailed description, figures and claims.
With reference to
A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk, magnetic disk 29, optical disk 31, ROM 24, or RAM 25, including an operating system 35, one or more application programs 36, other program modules 37, and program data 38. A user may enter commands and information into the personal computer 20 through input devices such as a keyboard 40, a pointing device 42, and a remote control 55. Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite disk, scanner or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 21 through a serial port interface 46 that is coupled to the system bus, but may be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, game port or a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor 47 or other type of display device (such as a large screen TV set) is also connected to the system bus 23 via an interface, such as a video adapter 48. Monitor 47 includes computer monitors, LCD panels, TV monitors, and the like. In addition to the monitor, personal computers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers and printers.
The personal computer 20 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 49. The remote computer 49 may be another personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the personal computer, although only a memory storage device 50 has been illustrated in
When used in a LAN networking environment, the personal computer 20 is connected to the local network 51 through a network interface or adapter 53. When used in a WAN networking environment, the personal computer 20 typically includes a modem 54 or other means for establishing communications over the wide area network 52 such as the Internet. The modem 54, which may be internal or external, is connected to the system bus 23 via the serial port interface 46. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the personal computer 20, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used.
An additional input to serial port interface 46 comes from remote control 55. In this regard, the remote control 55 allows for remote operation of the computer system including the components and applications found therein.
Each task as shown in
Numeric accelerators (corresponding to the available keypad symbols) are assigned to applications or tasks available for execution and displayed on the start menu. In one embodiment of the present invention, tasks or applications are stored in a specified location in memory with application identifiers pointing to the tasks or applications. Representations of the application identifiers are displayed on the start menu. For example, the actual executable tasks or applications may be stored in a specific location on a hard drive or other memory with the application identifiers stored in a file or directory specifically for start menu items.
The tasks or applications 204 through 207 of the present invention may include a variety of user-definable tasks or applications including the option of define one task as a folder or collection of other tasks. For example, a user (or the system) may define one task as a games folder containing a collection of games. By selecting the games folder (by, for example, highlighting the games task and pressing the enter key) the start menu is expanded to display a menu listing of the selectable games. The representation and selection of these sub-level tasks are explained in greater detail with respect to
The combination of nested tasks or applications through multiple levels of start menus allows a user to input various combinations without confusion. Also, if the user remembers the keystroke combination of accelerators which accesses nested applications, the user may input the combination and quickly be transported to the end task without substantive delay. Embodiments of the present invention provide a process for quickly processing the input keystrokes corresponding to displayed accelerators as shown in greater detail in
As shown in
To facilitate the use of the system as shown in
As shown in
In one embodiment, the menu for the various modes is mode sensitive. Accordingly, when in different modes, different menus may be displayed for the same function (e.g., “start”). Also, the menu is application sensitive. Accordingly, when in different applications, pressing the menu button may display different menu options.
If a received key press in step 1001 was the menu button, then the process determines the mode of operation of the system of
An example of various menus retrieved in theater mode is shown in
First application 1101 and second application 1106 include an identifying title bars conveying an identifying icon and the title of the application. The title bar may remain hidden during use, be selectively present during operation, or may be constantly displayed in conjunction with the application. When selectively displayed, the title bar may be displayed in response to the press of a menu button. Also, the title bar may be displayed whenever the application chooses to display the bar.
Current monitors, such as monitor 47 of
In summary, the user can decide how big on the screen the menus should be, wherein the size is determined by a ratio of screen size to menu size. In one embodiment, all content is offered at 640×480 pixel resolution as the largest resolution. Two variables can be provided to the user to permit control over menu size. The first variable is the ratio N (the “resolution factor”) of the current resolution to the resolution of the predefined resolution of the menu to be displayed (the “authored resolution”). Various ways exist to calculate the ratio between resolutions including comparing a ratio of horizontal resolutions, vertical resolution, or a combination of both horizontal and vertical resolutions. In the following example, the system compares the horizontal resolutions to arrive at the resolution factor N of 1.25.
The second variable is the “bigness” or sizing factor which may be set by a user to vary the amount of information available on a display by changing the size of the displayed information. The bigness factor may range from 0.0 to 1.0, but this range may be constrained to 0.5 to 1.0 so as to prevent a user from inadvertently shrinking the size of displayed information beyond a usable size. The bigness factor is multiplied by the pixel size of an image as calculated from application of the resolution factor. In this instance, 0.5 specifies that a menu should be half as big as a 1.0 sized menu. So, if the above menu size of 500 pixels was scaled by a bigness factor of 0.5, the resulting menu size would be 250 pixels. To this end, a user can scale menu items (and other displayable items as well) to increase the amount of information on a screen (by decreasing the respective size of each item) or to increase the viewable size of displayed information (by increasing the respective size of each item). Further, in accordance with one aspect of the invention, at least some applications are alerted to the current menu size whenever a change occurs. All fonts, buttons, and menus can thus be scaled to the correct size based on the current screen resolution and a user-specified “bigness” factor.
As the theater mode of the present application is intended to be viewed at a distance from the user, one enhancement includes highlighting the currently selected choice on the start menu or application menu.
To specify the size of a focus frame, the border spacing and box width parameters of the operating system are controlled. Three parameters may be controlled to create the appearance of the focus frame 1705 as shown in
The third adjustable parameter is “width” which allows adjustment of the width of focus frame 1705 surrounding selection 1702. Where, as shown in
Another advantage of using a regional window as specified by the width parameter to create the focus frame is that it minimizes the drain on system resources as the regional window redraw function is less taxing than redrawing the entire menu with varying colors and remapping the size, shape and color of all items.
In one embodiment, enhanced menu scrolling techniques are used.
An alternative scrolling process is described in steps 1808 through 1811. In this alternative embodiment, the process moves the focus frame until near the screen border then locks the focus frame as previously described. As shown by a dashed arrow, instead of proceeding with step 1806, the process proceeds from step 1804 to step 1808 when an arrow button is pressed. Step 1808 determines whether the focus frame is one cell away from the border of display 201. If not, the process moves the focus frame in the direction of the pressed arrow button. If the focus frame is one cell away from the border of display 201, then the process locks the position of the focus frame in its position on display 201 (step 1809) and moves the menu through the focus frame. While step 1808 shows a single cell, a number of cells may alternatively be spaced between the border and the lock position of the focus frame. An advantage in locking the focus frame at least one cell away from the border includes the ability to keep the focus frame away from the distorting effects of the edge of display 201 (for example, pin cushion effects, color shifts, etc.) as well as allowing the user to see what the next item in the list of start menu is before moving to it.
The present invention contemplates that the numerical accelerators will remain associated with the previously assigned items while the menu scrolls. An advantage of keeping the numerical accelerators associated with assigned items is that users become acquainted with the associations and expect that certain numerical accelerators are associated with certain items. These expectations by the user support the acceleration function achieved by the numerical accelerators. In this regard, some items may have multiple digit numerical accelerators.
An advantage of scrolling through the display choices is evident when the number of choices for a menu exceeds the number of available accelerators.
By conserving the number of accelerators through the enhanced functionality of the remote control's keypad, the system eliminates the need for providing unnecessary keys (for example, a separate scroll key) while retaining all of the robust functionality to a user of a fully developed and making the transition between alternative functionality of the keys seamless to the user.
During operation of the menus, at times the titles of the various applications or tasks listed therein may not clearly make their contents known to the user. To more clearly represent to a user what selecting an application or task will do, embodiments of the present application incorporate a preview of the application or task as described in greater detail with respect to
Focus frame 2204 highlights application 2203, focusing a user's attention to the current selection. To assist the user, an application, task and/or other item 2201 each has associated with it a list of preview parameters which preview the contents of each item (or other usable information related to the item) to a user, once a specified menu item is highlighted. The combination of preview parameters is considered a preview data structure. The preview is shown in preview area 2212. The displayed preview can retrieve files which are not necessarily based on the content of the selected application or task. For example, an application or task may comprise only an audio file containing an interview. However, the preview of that file may include text, an image of the speaker, or a short movie showing the interviewee speaking. To this end, to facilitate the quick execution of various previews when an application is selected, the preview data structure allows for quick execution and display of the preview and does not require (nor prohibit) the launching of the executable associated with the application identifier shown in start menu 2201. Alternative embodiments of the present invention contemplate the preview being even more disassociated from the content of the selected application 2203. For example, the preview files associated with the 4×4 Truck World application 2203 may relate to a commercial advertising the latest fishing supplies.
Present embodiments contemplate the preview data structure to provide for a variety of multimedia presentations. For example, a preview data structure may include specified text, audio, and video previews or clips which can relate to the content of the application or task. An example of a suitable preview data structure is represented below:
The icon or movie or animation 2210 displays information associated with highlighted application 2203. Also, text 2211 provides some further descriptive text associated with highlighted application 2203. The process associated with the selection and execution of the preview information is shown in greater detail in
Alternatively, files relating to the preview of any task or application can be stored at a remote location. To access these files at the remote location, the file name as specified in the preview data structure described above may include the entire address of the file so that one may retrieve the remotely stored preview file. For example, the entire address of the file may include the URL of the file as accessible over the a network such as an intranet or the Internet. An advantage of storing the preview file at a remote location includes the ability to quickly update the remotely stored file and have users see the new preview when next accessed by the users' system. Using a remotely stored file and a URL in an application pointing to it, the provider of the preview file may additionally provide time sensitive previews (including time sensitive offers, etc.) for various purposes including advertising purposes and the like.
Of course, it should be understood that the configuration of the modules discussed above is merely by way of example, and that it is contemplated that other configurations and additional (or fewer) modules could also have been implemented.
In general, it should be emphasized that the various components of embodiments of the present invention can be implemented in hardware, software or a combination thereof. In such embodiments, the various components and steps would be implemented in hardware and/or software to perform the functions of the present invention. Any presently available or future developed computer software language and/or hardware components can be employed in such embodiments of the present invention. For example, at least some of the functionality mentioned above could be implemented using the C or C++ programming language.
It is also to be appreciated and understood that the specific embodiments of the invention described hereinbefore are merely illustrative of the general principles of the invention. Various modifications may be made by those skilled in the art consistent with the principles set forth hereinbefore.
|Cited Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title|
|US4823283||Oct 14, 1986||Apr 18, 1989||Tektronix, Inc.||Status driven menu system|
|US4896291||May 20, 1988||Jan 23, 1990||International Business Machines Corporation||Valuator menu for use as a graphical user interface tool|
|US5198802||Dec 20, 1991||Mar 30, 1993||International Business Machines Corp.||Combined keyboard and mouse entry|
|US5457478 *||May 24, 1994||Oct 10, 1995||Firstperson, Inc.||Control device|
|US5546523||Apr 13, 1995||Aug 13, 1996||Gatto; James G.||Electronic fund transfer system|
|US5581685||Dec 13, 1994||Dec 3, 1996||Fujitsu Limited||Hierarchical menu system providing a definition file for each menu|
|US5585838||May 5, 1995||Dec 17, 1996||Microsoft Corporation||Program time guide|
|US5596373||Jan 4, 1995||Jan 21, 1997||Sony Corporation||Method and apparatus for providing program oriented information in a multiple station broadcast system|
|US5623613||Nov 29, 1994||Apr 22, 1997||Microsoft Corporation||System for displaying programming information|
|US5675390||Jul 17, 1995||Oct 7, 1997||Gateway 2000, Inc.||Home entertainment system combining complex processor capability with a high quality display|
|US5694562 *||Jan 17, 1995||Dec 2, 1997||Fisher; Thomas A.||Closely integrated key icons in a graphical interface|
|US5734853 *||Dec 2, 1993||Mar 31, 1998||Discovery Communications, Inc.||Set top terminal for cable television delivery systems|
|US5748254||Dec 8, 1995||May 5, 1998||Coach Master International Corporation||Systems with a remote control in which information can be retrieved from an encoded, laser readable disc|
|US5752160||May 5, 1995||May 12, 1998||Dunn; Matthew W.||Interactive entertainment network system and method with analog video startup loop for video-on-demand|
|US5796404 *||Jul 1, 1996||Aug 18, 1998||Sun Microsystems, Inc.||Computer system having alphanumeric keyboard access to objects in graphical user interface|
|US5805763||May 5, 1995||Sep 8, 1998||Microsoft Corporation||System and method for automatically recording programs in an interactive viewing system|
|US5815160||Mar 29, 1996||Sep 29, 1998||Nec Corporation||Presentation system for correcting positional and size information of images to compensate for resolution of display apparatus|
|US5826051||Dec 27, 1995||Oct 20, 1998||Intel Corporation||Method and apparatus for simplifying active window selection, application activation, and shared command execution in a multi-application environment|
|US5903259 *||Mar 31, 1997||May 11, 1999||Compaq Computer Corporation||Method and apparatus for mapping remote control buttons onto keyboard stroke combinations|
|US5905497 *||Mar 31, 1997||May 18, 1999||Compaq Computer Corp.||Automatic and seamless cursor and pointer integration|
|US5943054 *||Jan 30, 1996||Aug 24, 1999||Fujitsu Limited||Function designate method for designating a variety of functions to be performed by a control unit|
|US5990890 *||Aug 25, 1997||Nov 23, 1999||Liberate Technologies||System for data entry and navigation in a user interface|
|US6005550 *||Mar 31, 1997||Dec 21, 1999||Compaq Computer Corporation||Automatic cursor parking to hide a mouse pointer|
|US6008803||Aug 7, 1998||Dec 28, 1999||Microsoft Corporation||System for displaying programming information|
|US6011592 *||Mar 31, 1997||Jan 4, 2000||Compaq Computer Corporation||Computer convergence device controller for managing various display characteristics|
|US6144376 *||Nov 15, 1996||Nov 7, 2000||Intel Corporation||Method and apparatus for merging, displaying and accessing personal computer content listings via a television user interface|
|US6172677 *||Oct 7, 1996||Jan 9, 2001||Compaq Computer Corporation||Integrated content guide for interactive selection of content and services on personal computer systems with multiple sources and multiple media presentation|
|US6202212 *||Apr 1, 1997||Mar 13, 2001||Compaq Computer Corporation||System for changing modalities|
|US6215467||Apr 26, 1996||Apr 10, 2001||Canon Kabushiki Kaisha||Display control apparatus and method and display apparatus|
|US6259440 *||May 3, 1999||Jul 10, 2001||Compaq Computer Corporation||Device with converged functionality|
|US6262713 *||Mar 31, 1997||Jul 17, 2001||Compaq Computer Corporation||Mechanism and method for focusing remote control input in a PC/TV convergence system|
|US6295057 *||Apr 3, 2000||Sep 25, 2001||Sony Corporation||Internet content and television programming selectively displaying system|
|US6300980 *||Feb 19, 1997||Oct 9, 2001||Compaq Computer Corporation||Computer system design for distance viewing of information and media and extensions to display data channel for control panel interface|
|US6307499 *||Mar 31, 1997||Oct 23, 2001||Compaq Computer Corporation||Method for improving IR transmissions from a PC keyboard|
|US6388714 *||Apr 11, 1997||May 14, 2002||Starsight Telecast Inc||Interactive computer system for providing television schedule information|
|Citing Patent||Filing date||Publication date||Applicant||Title|
|US8063884 *||Dec 10, 2007||Nov 22, 2011||Sony Corporation||Information processing apparatus, display control method, and program for controlling a display of the information processing apparatus based on an input received from a remote controller|
|US8086966 *||Nov 8, 2006||Dec 27, 2011||Sony Corporation||Electronic apparatus and method of initializing setting items thereof|
|US8201097 *||Dec 13, 2007||Jun 12, 2012||Sony Corporation||Information processing apparatus, display control method, and program|
|US20070118815 *||Nov 8, 2006||May 24, 2007||Shinobu Usui||Electronic apparatus and method of initializing setting items thereof|
|US20080189630 *||Dec 13, 2007||Aug 7, 2008||Sony Corporation||Information processing apparatus, display control method, and program|
|US20080192003 *||Dec 10, 2007||Aug 14, 2008||Sony Corporation||Information processing apparatus, display control method, and program|
|US20090276733 *||Apr 30, 2008||Nov 5, 2009||Oracle International Corporation||Method, system, and graphical user interface for presenting an interactive hierarchy and indicating entry of information therein|
|US20100122213 *||Nov 6, 2009||May 13, 2010||Jen-Te Chen||Method for assignment of shortcut key combinations utilizing numerical-shape association|
|U.S. Classification||715/827, 715/840, 715/817, 715/831|
|International Classification||H04N21/2343, H04N21/443, H04N21/432, H04N21/462, H04N5/445, H04N21/81, G06F3/023, G06F3/033, G06F3/048, G06F3/00|
|Cooperative Classification||H04N21/4325, G06F3/0481, H04N21/234381, G06F3/0489, H04N5/44582, H04N21/8113, H04N21/4622, H04N21/4438|
|European Classification||H04N21/432P, H04N21/2343T, H04N21/81A1, H04N21/443W, G06F3/0481, G06F3/0489, H04N5/445R|
|Oct 4, 2012||FPAY||Fee payment|
Year of fee payment: 4
|Dec 8, 2014||AS||Assignment|
Owner name: ROVI TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION, CALIFORNIA
Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:MICROSOFT CORPORATION;REEL/FRAME:034539/0676
Effective date: 20141027